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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25170340">That Gotham Energy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SioDymph/pseuds/SioDymph'>SioDymph</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DC Extended Universe, DCU, DCU (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Gun Violence, Original Character(s), Robbery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:00:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,245</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25170340</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SioDymph/pseuds/SioDymph</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>You know what has real Gotham-Energy? Two kids robbing a store, only to fight-off another robber that breaks in.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>That Gotham Energy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Ok this all started when I saw this vid: There were these two kids stealing chips when an armed robber comes into the convenience store and threatens the cashier. But thinking fast, the kids distracted/jumped the robber. </p><p>BTW this footage is fake and is from a Web Series called “Five Points”. But it still inspired me. Cause it’s the kind of thing kids in Gotham would do! </p><p>Anyways, hope you like this little story!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lucia hated that they had to do this. But at the moment, she and her best friend, Capri, really didn’t have a choice.</p><p>Somehow, even after getting a massive grant from Wayne Enterprise, their school still had to make massive budget cuts and decided to take away free breakfast entirely. Meaning now, pretty much every other kid at school was starting their day on an empty stomach.</p><p>And as if things weren’t bad enough, there was now rumors going around that the Board was going to after the reduced lunch program next.</p><p>Many students and their families were organizing protests, trying to find some way they could change the Board’s mind. Meanwhile though as they tried to fight and get the Board’s attention, over half of the school was going hungry. Including Capri and Lucia.</p><p>Their school was a toilet and someone had to do something about it. But in their opinion, there wasn’t much they could do to change the School Board’s ways. And it wasn’t like they could go feed the whole school. They could hardly feed themselves, they were just two broke kids.</p><p>Which led them to their current plan of action.</p><p>If the school couldn’t afford to feed them, and they were too broke to feed themselves, than Capri and Lucia would take matters into their own hands.</p><p>There was a convenience near Aparo Park that usually only had one cashier working behind the counter. Some shop called Speedy-Stop. A corporate chain. And almost no people ever went in there. That at least helped Lucia feel a little better about what they were about to do. It felt easier to hurt some major company rather than any of the locally-owned, family shops.</p><p>Being the showman they were, Capri was in charge of striking up a conversation with the cashier. Keeping him distracted. Meanwhile Lucia would be in the food aisle, shoving as many snacks, bars and cans as she possibly could into her backpack and hoodie.</p><p>Lucia knew the plan, but even as they approached the Speedy-Stop she couldn’t help but feel nervous. She tugged at her hoodie. Normally it didn’t bother her. But today her hoodie felt restrictive and cloying rather than secure and protective like it usually did.</p><p>“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Lucia couldn’t help but ask.</p><p>“Come on Lu, it’ll be fine.” Capri said. Lazily riding their skateboard. “Most of the stuff they keep in these shops has to get tossed after a month on the shelves. Think of it like dumpster-diving, but we’re just skipping a step!”</p><p>“Gross.” Lucia said, wrinkling her nose.</p><p>“Plus it’s not like we’re holding the store at gunpoint.” Capri continued. “We’re just gonna swipe a few things.”</p><p>“But it’s still stealing.” Lucia added, already feeling guiltily.</p><p>“Hey, you gotta do what you have to.” Capri countered.</p><p>Lucia wished there was something else to say. Some other idea they hadn’t thought of yet. Something else they could possibly do besides this. But she couldn’t think of anything. Not with the coiled mix of nerves and guilt in her guts.</p><p>As they got to the shop’s automatic doors, Capri leaned over and whispered into her shoulder. “It’ll be fine, just stick to the plan.”</p><p>“This is so stupid.”</p><p>“Well it’s the only plan we got!”</p><p>And then the automatic doors slid open with a happy chime.</p><p>Springing into action, Capri waltzed over to the cashier, leaning onto the counter and began their spiel. “How’s it going bud?”</p><p>Capri could be a pain at times, a theater kid through and through, but they did their job well and quickly grabbed all of the cashier’s attention.</p><p>While they talked about circuses and juggling and whatever, Lucia calmly walked into the food aisle. And when Capri started to talk obnoxiously loud, Lucia knew that was her cue.</p><p>Working quickly, she ripped open her backpack and began grabbing as many cans and bars into the bag as she could. Being careful to avoid grabbing too many chip bags, they were full of air, took up too much space, and would be loud if they crinkled too much. She tried to grab things that would be easy to hide, granola bars, protein bars, candy bars. Any bar really. And being strategic, she stuffed bars in between the cans so they wouldn’t clatter around in her backpack when she finally moved.</p><p>Her heart felt like it was in her chest. Acting cautiously, she kept an ear out for Capri as she worked. Apparently from the sound of it, they had juggled a few bags for the cashier’s entertainment and was now trying to bribe the person into giving them a scratch-off ticket.</p><p>But then the unexpected happened.</p><p>Just as Lucia filled up her backpack and moved on to stuffing chip bags in her hoodie, she heard the convenience store doors open. Boots were stomping on the linoleum floor and she heard the tell-tale click of a shot gun cocking.</p><p>In an instant, Capri had scurried next to her and was pulling them both deeper into the aisle to hide. Ducking down onto the floor.</p><p>“fuckfuckfuck! Fuck!” Capris whisper-screamed. “What the fuck do we do!?”</p><p>They could hear a man demanding that the cashier empty out the entire cash register otherwise he’d “blow their brains out”.</p><p>Crawling along the floor, Lucia crept close enough that she could see the robber. There was only one man... And his back was turned…</p><p>A dangerous idea began to grow in Lucia’s head.</p><p>“What if we ambush him?”</p><p>“Are you fucking insane!?” Capri gasped. “That dude has a shotgun!”</p><p>“And we have a skateboard.” Lucia continued in a hushed voice. “First, I’m gonna go into the next aisle and roll this out. Then, when he turns, we’ll attack him from behind and grab the gun!”</p><p>Capri gave her a bewildered look. “That’s so fucking dumb!”</p><p>“Well it’s the only plan we got!” Lucia said. “There’s only one of him and two of us, three if we count the cashier.”</p><p>Capri’s eyes still looked wild. But they took a deep breath and steeled themselves. “Ok… Ok let’s do this stupid plan!”</p><p>Acting fast, Lucia grabbed the skateboard and crept into the next aisle.</p><p>Best case scenario: they successfully stop the robber and get away with all the food they stole.</p><p>Worst case scenario: they both get shot.</p><p>Bad (but not worst) case scenario: they still get caught stealing and get arrested.</p><p>The odds weren’t in their favor. Like at all. But at the same time, Lucia couldn’t risk just sitting there and doing nothing. And who knows, maybe if they stop this robber that will give her and Capri some karma-points for all the stealing they did.</p><p>Not knowing what would happen next, Lucia took a deep breath and rolled the skate board roughly down the aisle.</p><p>As is smacked into the front counter, the robber looked down.</p><p>And that was just enough time for Capri to charge at the robber and shove them into the counter. With enough force that it knocked the gun from his hands. Breaking into a sprint, Lucia caught up with them, grabbed the gun and tossed it to the cashier.</p><p>And running like their lives counted on it, Lucia and Capri bolted from the Speedy-Stop.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Hours later, the pair had hid away at Lucia’s little one-room apartment. Splitting up the haul Lucia got, they had enough food to feed both of them, plus some of Capri’s younger siblings for the rest of the week. Plus some of the extra stuff Capri had taken from the front counter while they distracted the cashier. All in all a decent haul. They probably could have gotten more if the robber hadn’t come. But then again there was a likely chance they would have been caught if the robber hadn’t shown up.</p><p>As they divided up the haul, Gotham News Nine was playing softly on the grainy, little TV she had sitting in the corner. The “Breaking News” segment came on. And when the TV started broadcasting live from outside of a familiar Speedy-Stop, Lucia felt like her heart had jumped up into her throat.</p><p>There were reports of an “attempted armed robbery” that was “successfully thwarted” by a “pair of fast-thinking kids”.</p><p>“How did they find out so quickly?” Lucia couldn’t help but ask out loud.</p><p>But she and Capri saw the answer soon enough.</p><p>The station showed footage from the store’s security cameras. Their faces were blurred out but sure enough it was Lucia and Capri. The news kept replaying the part where Lucia pushed the skateboard and Capri bum-rushed the robber.</p><p>Lucia kept waiting for the moment they’d show the earlier footage. The moment when they were stealing from the shop.</p><p>But that footage never came up. Only a continuing loop of the two of them stopping the robbers.</p><p>During his interview, the cashier called them both heroes.</p><p>The interviewer even praised them for “rising to the occasion and doing the right thing!”</p><p>Lucia didn’t know how she felt about that. On one hand she and Capri had helped the man, but on the other hand they were both the first to actually rob the cashier and he had no idea…</p><p>She almost couldn’t watch when the next two figures came on screen.</p><p>Spoiler and the Black Bat. Stood just outside the Speedy-Stop and smiled for the camera. At least, it looked like they were. It was hard to tell with the masks.</p><p>“We were called in when we got an alert of an armed robber.” Spoiler explained. “But when we got here, our job had already been done for us!”</p><p>“Do you think the Batman has some new heroes to recruit?” The reported asked.</p><p>That made Spoiler snort before Black Bat nudged her. “Oh! You were being serious! Ok well, what happened here today was great. I saw the footage and it was awesome! Very strong Gotham-energy. But that doesn’t mean those kids are gonna be superheroes.”</p><p>“That’s not nice.” Black Bat was quick to interrupt her friend and continued. “Anyone can do what we do. You don’t have to wear a mask.”</p><p>“Yeah!” Spoiler continued. “You don’t have to be talent-scouted by an old furry to do our job. The people who are willing to do the right thing, even when they get nothing out of it, those are real heroes…”</p><p>As the interview continued, Lucia turned to Capri. “Do you think they know?”</p><p>“Well,” Capris said with a sigh, “they obviously saw the security footage. Odds were they saw the whole thing.”</p><p>“Do, do you-” Lucia’s nerves felt like they were coiled up into a tight ball, ready to burst. “Do you think they’ll come after us?”</p><p>“Oh please.” Capri replied lightly. Wrapping an arm securely around Lucia as they spoke. “We aren’t the Joker or Black Mask. We didn’t hurt anybody. All we did was steal some snacks. I doubt they’d care-”</p><p>All at once all the lights in their room went out.</p><p>Capri yelped and clung to Lucia.</p><p>“What the fuck!?” Capri shouted.</p><p>After a few moments of pure silence, Lucia’s phone began to ring.</p><p>It was an unknown number.</p><p>Not knowing what else to do, Lucia answered and put the phone on speaker.</p><p><em>“Hello Lucia.”</em> A woman’s voice answered. Her voice was slightly modulated so Lucia had no way of even recognizing the voice.</p><p>“Um, hi?”</p><p>
  <em>“That was an impressive show you and your friend put on.”</em>
</p><p>“Thanks?” Capri added.</p><p><em>“My friends and I have been watching this security footage. You both are quite entertaining.” </em> The woman said. When they continued, their tone of voice lacked any emotion. <em>“It almost distracts from the fact that you two were the first ones to rob that store.”</em></p><p>“Fuck.” Capri whispered.</p><p><em>“Oh I’m sorry, did you think you actually got away?” </em>The woman snapped. <em>“Did you think that we wouldn’t find out? That I wouldn’t be able to see you? There were seven different cameras in that convenience store. That means seven different ways for me to see you. And I saw everything. I see everything.”</em></p><p>While terrifying, something about the way they talked. How they spoke about “seeing everything”, how they had access to anything electrical was familiar to Lucia and Capri.</p><p>“Are you the Oracle?” Lucia dared to ask.</p><p><em>“Bingo. Now it’s my turn to ask some questions.”  </em>The woman, Oracle, replied dryly. “<em>You see, my friends and I are currently in a disagreement. Some of us think we should leave you be. After all, you’re just a couple of kids. But some of us believe that you still should deal with the consequences of your actions.”</em></p><p>“So what do you want to know?” Capri asked.</p><p><em>“We want to know why.”</em> Oracle said simply.</p><p>This was it. This was what would potentially decide their fate. And yet, compared to attempted robbery or running at a man with a gun, Lucia was more scared now than she ever felt before. </p><p>“They cut the free breakfasts at our school.” Capri said first.</p><p>
  <em>“And that gives you the right to steal from others?”</em>
</p><p>“We were hungry.” Capri explained. “I don’t know about you, but I got two siblings to look after. If I can’t guarantee free breakfast and lunch for them then they’re screwed!”</p><p>
  <em>“Once again, that gives you the right to steal?”</em>
</p><p>For a moment, Lucia felt herself see red. Then she snapped. “Well what gives you the right to cut my power? What gives you the right to hack into all of my stuff and harass us like this?”</p><p>
  <em>“I’m not the one-”</em>
</p><p>“What gave Gotham’s School Board the right to cut our funding, to cut out our food? They had no right to do that, but I don’t see you hacking into their houses and interrogate them? Why don’t you ask them! Ask them where all the money went! Why they couldn’t spare a cent for us!?”</p><p>For a moment, the room felt eerily calm. All Lucia could hear was her heavy breathing and the light ringing in her ears.</p><p>“Look.” Luci continued, trying to get her breathing under control. “Capri and I aren’t perfect. We weren’t out there with the other kids, trying to fight the school board. But that’s because we didn’t believe it would work. And we stole because we didn’t believe we were ever going to get our breakfasts back. So we did what we had to do. It was… It was the only plan we had.”</p><p>“We had to do something.” Capri added. “We’re good people. Please believe us when we say we’re good people. Lucia is the sweetest person I know. We never meant to hurt anyone.”</p><p>For a moment, the phone continued to remain silent.</p><p>But then, Oracle finally replied. <em>“We believe you. For now.”</em></p><p>Capri and Lucia sighed in relief, hugging one another.</p><p>And then a second voice spoke through the phone, in a deep baritone. <em>“I’m sorry about your school. And I’m sorry they forced you to make these difficult decisions.”</em></p><p>Listening to the voice, Capri’s eyes went wide and they excitedly whispered. “Do you think that’s Batman!?”</p><p><em>“It is.”</em> The voice answered. <em>“You two showed bravery doing what you did. And if you like, I could help teach you both other ways to fight for justice.”</em></p><p>“No thank you.” Lucia replied, hating how her voice seemed to squeak.</p><p><em>“I understand.”</em> The man replied.<em> “If you ever change your mind, let me know. But please, don’t give up hope. Change might be coming sooner than you think.”</em></p><p>With that, the unknown number hung up and all of the lights came back on in Lucia’s apartment.</p><p>“What the fresh hell was that all about?” Capri asked, still clinging to Lucia.</p><p>“I have no idea.” Lucia replied, looking down to her phone with a frown. “But hopefully he’s right about change coming soon…”</p><p>Capri asked, turning to Lucia with full-realization.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Batman just asked us if we wanna be his sidekicks and you said NO!!!”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>A few days later, Lucia and Capri went to school and discovered the free breakfasts had been brought back. Not only that but they were there to stay. Permanently.</p><p>Apparently, the students and their families who had been protesting had gained the support of Bruce Wayne himself. He helped them get the attention they needed, and the School Board were now going under investigation for embezzlement of both government funding and scholarship funds.</p><p>In the meantime, Mr. Wayne had funded a new community-based organization called “the Kyle Food Pantry” a group that aimed to help provide food to low-income communities. Starting with providing free breakfasts to all schools in Gotham City.</p><p>And if that wasn’t surprising enough, as Lucia and Capri stepped through line to get breakfast again, they heard a commotion further ahead in line. Kids were stopping to take photos and selfies. As they got closer they quickly realized why. They were shocked to see Bruce Wayne standing in the kitchen and scooping out the hash browns. Along with one of his daughters, Cassandra Cain by the look of it.</p><p>“How are you kids doing this morning?” He asked brightly. His hair was pulled back into a hairnet and he was wearing a greasy apron, but sure enough it was Bruce Wayne. There was no way it couldn’t be.</p><p>“What the-” Capri couldn’t help but gasp.</p><p>“What are <em>you </em>doing here?” Lucia asked, finishing their thought.</p><p>“It’s the least I could do.” Mr. Wayne explained. “I heard how your school had abused the funds I donated, and cut your funding. So now I’m here to make sure you all get the most important meal of the day.”</p><p>“This must be the craziest publicity stunt.” Capri couldn’t help but say.</p><p>Mr. Wayne just shrugged. “I’ll be here until an official president of the Kyle Pantry is hired. Hopefully by the end of the week, they’ll take over this operation.”</p><p>“And you really plan on being here that entire time?” Lucia asked.</p><p>“Every morning.” Mr. Wayne replied. “Now do you want one scoop or two?”</p><p>Dumbfounded, they both got their hash browns. But just as they were about to move on, thing’s got even weirder.</p><p>“By the way Lucia, you move nice!” Cassandra Cain called out.</p><p>Spinning around, Lucia could barely breathe. “What!?”</p><p>“I meant to say, <em>do you have nice moves?  </em>With skateboards. In your backpack.” Cassandra explained. “I’m sure you and Capri have great moves!”</p><p>Sure enough, when Lucia checked, she had Capri’s skateboard hanging from her backpack.</p><p>Capri just shrugged. “Oh, you know. It’s nothing special.”</p><p>“Well, you kids keep up the great work.” Mr. Wayne called out. “And don’t forget to grab a fruit before checking out!”</p><p>“What weirdos.” Capri said with a laugh. “Wayne has more money than all of Gotham, yet he’s out here scooping hash-browns? I swear this kinda thing only happens in Gotham!”</p><p>“Maybe he felt bad about the money-thing?” Lucia added. “And this is like his own way of trying to get some karma-points back after messing up.”</p><p>Moving on, Capri seemed curious. “It’s funny. I always assumed Wayne was a douche. But he actually seemed kinda nice, you know? Like there’s still something off about him and his daughter. But you can tell they’re actually trying. And not just doing it for clout.”</p><p>“I see what you mean.” Lucia agreed.</p><p>As they neared the check-out and grabbed their mandatory-fruit, something dawned on Lucia.</p><p>“Wait, how did she know our names!?”</p>
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